


Who Jacked the Jacket?

by zenonaa



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29047854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: 'She got off her chair and picked it up carefully. It unfolded as she raised it, and she noted three things. One: it was a jacket. Two: it had been draped over her shoulders until it had fallen off. And three: it did not belong to her.'Fukawa wakes up to find Togami's jacket on her shoulders. Obviously, someone put it there to try to frame her for theft, so she interrogates everyone to find the culprit. Obviously.
Relationships: Fukawa Touko/Togami Byakuya
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Who Jacked the Jacket?

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to my friend, Kandy, and my girlfriend, Berrie, for reading this over for me before I posted it. <3
> 
> I've been working on an original novel so haven't written much tofu later but rest assured my love for it burns strongly.

When Touko awoke in a nest of musty sleeves, her senses felt around her like one might fumble their hands along the walls enclosing a pitch black room. Slightly shifting her head brushed her cheek against creased fabric. The dark room sang silence, the only noise being the ringing in her head. And as her tongue roused in her mouth, it slicked itself in bitter saliva.

A yawn built in her chest as she lifted her head and stretched her back. She rubbed her eyes to try to rejuvenate them and then, as she stooped forward again, she heard something rustle and plunge to the floor behind her chair.

It hadn’t been louder than a murmur, a cough, but her nerves were aflame. Barely breathing, she fiddled with her glasses and twisted around to see what, or who, it was.

What, or who, that dared intrude on her office. It was small, but hers, assigned just to her, in this large school establishment with so many other rooms for people to mess around in. Byakuya had readily bestowed her this room for her to retire to, whether it be so she could work in peace or just exist away from all bustle. How thoughtful. How very thoughtful. Yasuhiro had tried to ruin the moment by wondering aloud if it was so Byakuya could get some peace and quiet, but Touko glared and snapped and he had held his hands up in surrender, a grin cringing on his face.

Her attention returned to the present. Behind her chair lay a dark shape almost camouflaging entirely into the floor. She got off her chair and picked it up carefully. It unfolded as she raised it, and she noted three things.

One: it was a jacket. Two: it had been draped over her shoulders until it had fallen off. And three: it did not belong to her.

Whilst Touko did own a few dark jackets, this one would have swamped her scrawny frame and she was positive that she hadn’t put it on herself. She set the jacket down onto her desk, rubbing the end of one of its high-caliber sleeves between a thumb and finger as she wondered. Her other hand flattened the jacket, and it was doing this that alerted her to the fact that one of the pockets had something in it.

Slowly, like she was reaching into the jaw of a sleeping alligator, Touko delved in her hand and pulled out the cause of the bulge. Bringing it to the light, her eyebrows arched, breath snatched away.

It was a pocket watch. But not just a pocket watch. Byakuya’s pocket watch. She recognised the engravings on its silver shell. So, therefore, this was Byakuya’s jacket that she now gathered into her arms. Of course it was his. For starters, it was his size, of an acceptable quality for him, and as she half-breathed, half-snorted into its inner-lining, his cologne clung to it, smelling of spice and ash and a slice of citrus. She shuddered, her eyes rolling back as a smile grew on her face. Coming from for air, she was like the Sun above a sea of black, the clothing’s folds the water’s creases.

Byakuya’s jacket... was in her possession! Bliss rosied the air around her for a few seconds, until she blinked and it dawned on her why the jacket would be here.

Someone put it here... to frame her!

And just like that, her joyful expression cracked into one of anger. Someone wanted to make her out to be a criminal, stealing Byakuya’s precious jacket with his precious pocket watch inside. They wanted him to find her with it, and for him to think she was a dirty thief so he would never trust her ever again. Ever.

Touko could sneak it back to him, but what if he already noticed its absence? She drove a hand into her hair, tangling her fingers in aubergine. 

There was only one thing she could do, and that was work out who tried to set her up.

And she knew the best way to go about it.

***

Footsteps punctured the corridor beyond the teachers’ lounge until the door thrust open to reveal Makoto, whose panting shook his shoulders. With one hand leaning on the door, his eyes scoured the room with frantic energy. The windows on one wall afforded a view of the inky sky outside, and in the immediate area, bathed in artificial light, he saw his colleagues and former classmates assembled at neighbouring desks.

Their faces were dour enough for someone to have died, let alone seriously injured like Makoto had been told in a phone call, yet Komaru sat at a desk, alive and yawning into her hand. 

His brow scrunched with confusion. “Komaru? You’re...? But I thought...?”

“What did Touko-chan tell you to get you to come here?” asked Komaru.

“She told me that you had fallen over and lodged your head in a toilet.”

Offence flashed across Komaru’s face, hissing out in a gasp.

“How mean!” whined Komaru. “She told me that you were going to propose to Kyouko-chan!”

“W-What?” spluttered Makoto, his head jerking back. The others stirred.

“She told me that Makoto was the one with his head in a toilet,” piped up Kyouko.

“I got it worse,” said Aoi with a pout. “She invited me for donuts.”

“How is that worse?” asked Makoto. Aoi sat up. Her fists veered upward.

“There aren’t any donuts here!”

Or any food for that matter. The smell of someone’s curry lingered, but barely. Dinnertime passed some hours ago, usually spent either in the dining room of their shared accommodation or in their own apartments. Sometimes staff brought nourishment here if they wanted to work while eating.

Touko hadn’t had dinner that day. She slept through it, leaving her exposed to the world, a target for pranks. Though this went far beyond a prank. 

Yasuhiro wagged a finger angrily. “Fukawa-chi told me you guys were throwing me a birthday party!”

“But it’s January,” said Makoto.

Several seconds of silence passed. A thoughtful look rose to Yasuhiro’s face as he leaned back in his chair and cupped his chin.

“So she lied to us?” mused Yasuhiro, quieter.

“I did what I had to do.” Touko emerged from the shadowy corner that she had been watching them from, where she had waited until they all arrived. Each person had been baited by a different story, after which they became confused, entangled with the others’ testimonies, ensnared in her trap. 

She lifted her chin and she hoped the light hit her lenses in such a way to block out her eyes, to make her look more menacing. Judging by their wary expressions, she seemed to have succeeded. 

“And n-now that we’re all together,” Touko said, “w-we can start the interrogation.”

The unease darkening their faces cracked with confusion.

“The what now?” Komaru asked.

“Don’t you all look at me so dumbly!” Touko snarled. She held up Byakuya’s jacket. “While I was resting in my study, one of you snuck in, planted Byakuya-sama’s jacket in there, and escaped!”

“Why would anyone want to do that?” said Aoi.

“So B-Byakuya-sama would think I stole it,” growled Touko, her grip hard enough to strangle.

“Maybe a student took it?” suggested Yasuhiro, but Touko shook her head.

“It would be impossible for a student to get a hold if it... which brings me to the first suspect!” She whipped a finger forward. “You, Yasuhiro Hagakure!”

No bullet soared out of her finger, but Yasuhiro yelped and twitched like one had.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” Touko spoke in a low, hollow voice. “You weren’t at breakfast this morning, were you? Everyone else was, and that would have been the perfect time for you to sneak to Byakuya-sama’s apartment, take one of his jackets and then hide it until the right moment... ”

She could picture the scene in her head.  _ While she and most of the group sat around a table, eating breakfast in their shared accommodation’s dining area, Yasuhiro lurked in the doorway. He peeked in, made sure Touko was distracted, and then twiddled his moustache and dramatically tiptoed away, back hunched, heels never touching the floor. When he arrived at Byakuya’s door, he picked the lock with a metal coat hanger, and once he jiggled the door open, he slipped in, gliding as smooth as a shadow, and reappeared moments later with Byakuya’s jacket. He laughed silently to himself before sneaking off. _

Yasuhiro rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s true that I missed breakfast... but I wasn’t even on the school grounds. I had some, uh, early morning errands to run...”

“Like trying to tear me and Byakuya-sama apart?” Touko sneered. Yasuhiro cowered. She stuck up her nose. “It’s why you started wearing those glasses, isn’t it? To try to get him under your spell? And s-since when do you ever willingly get up early, anyway?”

“I... um...”

“There’s no way it could have been him!” Aoi said.

Yasuhiro started to smile. “Thank you, Asahina-chi!”

“He would have sold that jacket, not given it to you!”

The budding smile dropped from Yasuhiro’s face.

Touko couldn’t take a strong stance against what Aoi said. She had made a valid point. And if Aoi had been the culprit, she would have not spoken up in defence of Yasuhiro, wanting him to take the fall instead.

Unless...

“You’re conspiring with him!” accused Touko.

Aoi jolted. “What?”

“Yes... I remember now...” Touko said. “Last night, I overheard you in the teachers’ lounge. You asked Hagakure if he had got ‘the you-know-what’, to which he said he hadn’t and you snapped at him. That thing... was Byakuya-sama’s jacket, wasn’t it?”

Touko revisited the scene through the power of imagination.  _ Aoi sat on a revolving chair, stroking Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg the cat, who was a purring dark grey pillow on her lap. Nearby, moustachioed Yasuhiro sidled up to her. She regarded him with her single visible eye. _

_ “Do you have the goods?” asked Aoi, wearing an eyepatch. _

_ Yasuhiro grimaced. “I, uh... No.” _

_ “No?” Aoi yelled. _

_ Unbeknownst to them, Touko was outside the room, her F-cup breast pressed against the door as she listened into their conversation. Though muffled, their voices seeped through. _

_ “What do you mean you haven’t?” asked Aoi. _

_ “I’m sorry!” Yasuhiro bleated, wringing his hands in front of him. “I meant to, but I couldn’t find the right time to go without getting spotted... You know nothing gets past those beady eyes. It’s like trying to sneak a steak past a starving dog.” _

_ “Geez! You should have written what you had to get on your forehead.” _

_ “Wouldn’t it be better to write it on your forehead?” _

_ “What?” _

_ Yasuhiro motioned to his forehead. “Because I can’t see my own forehead without a mirror, and even then the writing would be backwards...” _

_ Aoi hissed. “It can’t be my forehead because I’m busy with my part of the plan!” _

_ And Touko would have eavesdropped more had Komaru not come bounding up to her at that moment, calling her name and clapping her back as soon as she drew close enough. Not hard, exactly, but Touko still jumped and headbutted the door, gaining the attention of both Yasuhiro and Aoi. Their conversation fizzled out, that bang on the door the scene break. _

“We weren’t talking about taking Togami’s jacket,” said Aoi indignantly. “We were... um... talking about...”

Aoi paused, while Yasuhiro leaned forward sharply.

“Kirigiri-chi’s birthday present!” he chipped in.

“That’s in October,” said Touko, and Yasuhiro sat back in his chair. “And like Hell I believe that!”

She now rounded on Komaru, who had been sitting quietly.

“And you...” Touko’s finger shook as she pointed it at Komaru. “You knew that I was about to find out your secret, so you called me out!”

Komaru gave a start and aimed a finger at herself. “My secret?”

“Because you’re working with them!”

The scene was clear in Touko’s mind.  _ While Touko rested her ear against the door, at the end of the corridor, Komaru spied on her. Keeping her gaze on Touko, Komaru unclipped her walkie talkie from her belt and brought it to her ear. _

_ “Chibimaru to Tsunderegiri,” said Komaru in a cloying voice, “the mark is listening to the Mermaid and Occult Maniacs, nya! I’m going in, nya! Over!” _

_ Komaru slipped her walkie talkie back onto her belt and then thundered down the corridor. Touko had only started turning toward the source of the noise when Komaru leaped toward her, bringing one hand behind herself as she sailed through the air. Before jumping up, Komaru had been a sweet, young person, but as the distance between her and Touko shrunk, the lines on Komaru’s face became more apparent, her muscles rippling. _

_ “Muda muda muda muda!” Komaru rumbled as her hand came forward and landed on Touko’s back, sending Touko crashing through the door. _

Touko’s finger was still targeting Komaru when the wheels on Komaru’s chair gasped, rolling backward. Komaru stood up and placed her hands onto her hips.

“I wasn’t trying to distract you from their conversation. I wanted you to help me with some homework in the library, that’s all!” she insisted.

“We went there and you kept goofing off and asking questions like what flavour chips I like, and you did the same today as well. But even if your appearance was pure coincidence... you’re still not off the hook! Not only do I have evidence that you’re conspiring against me, but I know who your partner is too.”

Dramatic pause. Then Touko shifted her finger from Komaru’s direction to Kyouko, who merely raised her eyebrows.

“This evening, I heard Kirigiri talking to you on the phone.”

_ “Thank you again, Komaru, for your assistance,” Kyouko murmured into her phone. She turned slightly as she listened, her milky cleavage on full display in a dress with a v-neck reaching down to her navel. Her eyes glinted like jewels in the darkness of the teachers’ lounge. “Without your camaraderie with Fukawa-san, our plan wouldn’t be running as smoothly as it is. It will be a complete surprise. I can’t wait to see her face either when she realises...” _

Not much else was more damning than that. Touko’s pointed finger shook, became crooked. Her lips stretched out, straining her cheeks, and each word that came out of her mouth was a glass shard carving against her lips, burning her throat.

“You, Komaru, were a distraction! You distracted me yesterday when Asahina and Hagakure were discussing the plan, and today as well while Hagakure stole Byakuya-sama’s jacket... and Kirigiri orchestrated the whole thing!”

Though no one spoke, the room buzzed. Eyes flickered, trapped like flies in a jar. Makoto mustered a response first.

“That’s not it at all!”

His voice dribbled down Touko’s cheek. A twisted laugh vibrated in her.

“And then there is you!” she said.

_ Touko was shuffling toward her office when she came across Makoto. When he spotted her, he stepped away from the wall he had been slouching against, tipped his newsboy hat a fraction and sauntered over to her, his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. _

_ “Hi, Fukawa-san!” he greeted, taking his hands out of his pockets so he could pull on the straps of his suspenders. They pinged back into place as soon as he released them. _

_ She nodded, and would have continued plodding along silently had he not fallen into stride beside her. _

_ “We just got a shipment of tea in, do you want to join me and the others in the cafeteria?” he asked. _

_ Touko shook her head, keeping her eyes forward. “I want to l-look over the manuscript I sent off yesterday. There might be something that needs adjusting. A sentence that can be removed, or an adverb I can combine with a verb...” _

_ “You’ve been working hard,” he said. “You could do with a break... unwind a little...” _

_ “Maybe another time.” Though physically in the corridor, her mind was already tucked away in her office, at her desk. She quickened her pace, and Makoto’s puppy dog smile morphed into a wolfish grin as the distance between them swallowed him whole. _

“You wanted to try to get me to the cafeteria, so you could plant the jacket while I was away,” said Touko. No longer did she point at anyone, instead cradling her head. “That failed, but you knew where I would be. All that was left to do was wait and come in at the right opportunity!”

“You’re wrong!” Komaru cried out. “We know how much Togami-san means to you. None of us want to hurt you!”

Touko didn’t reply, or move.

Komaru spoke louder. “Do you really think we hate you?”

“No,” came Touko’s monosyllabic reply, a droplet against a lake. She hugged Byakuya’s jacket against her chest. “I didn’t think that. I thought... you were my friends. I thought you liked me... and I like you all... and that’s why... it hurts.”

Silence lay thick. Touko was shaking, tears burning the corners of her eyes. Yasuhiro sighed, then turned to the others. 

“I told you guys that Fukawa-chi wouldn’t like it,” he said.

If Touko could parse words through the foggy maze in her brain, through her clenched throat, she would. Instead, her hot gaze snapped on him.

“Yeah,” admitted Aoi, looking down at her lap. “But it seemed like such a fun idea.”

Kyouko spoke next, softly. “Fukawa-san, what you witnessed and overheard... was us trying to put together a surprise party for you.”

The thorny vines around Touko stopped squeezing. Her head jerked back, blood resuming flow through her body. “W-What?”

“To celebrate you finishing the manuscript of your book, we put together a party for you in the cafeteria,” explained Aoi.

For a few seconds, Touko just stood there, her heartbeat drumming between her ears, and then she ran out of the room, through the school, until she swung open the doors to the cafeteria. She half-expected to find it the same as usual, to hit her like winning prom queen and having pig’s blood dropped on her in front of everyone, but she turned the lights on and froze.

Purple, pink and red balloons dotted the room in clusters, suspended like fingers in a friendly wave. Snacks sat on sheeted tables, but her eyes were pulled toward a multi-tiered cake. White icing resembled melted wax, standing out on brown chocolate, studded with candles that looked like fountain pens. From there, her eyes drifted up, up, up to the banner hanging from the ceiling.

**Congratulations, Touko!**

Just like they said. Touko was still staring when the others caught up to her. They stood back, giving Touko space as she digested her surroundings.

“Hagakure was meant to collect the cake yesterday, but he forgot and had to go today,” explained Aoi, prompting Touko to approach it. “Kyouko-chan’s masterful organisational skills accounted for him forgetting, so at least we were able to get it this morning.”

“I decorated the cafeteria with Kyouko and Aoi,” said Makoto. “It took me a while, but Komaru was able to keep you occupied.”

Fresh tears marked Touko’s eyes, but unlike her previous ones, these didn’t sting. Warmth pooled in her stomach. Her friends did care about her! But then...

She frowned, heart skipping, and brought a fist to her mouth.

“How did Byakuya-sama’s jacket end up on me?” she asked.

“I put it there,” came a voice, and everyone turned to its owner.

Byakuya Togami. He strode into the cafeteria, passing through the group standing in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest. Touko gasped. Since this morning, and particularly in the last twenty minutes, she felt like she had experienced every emotion. Now, watching him walk over, she ran through every emotion again.

Only, before, when it happened, she felt ready to fall asleep afterwards. This time, she was wide awake.

“B-Byakuya-sama!” Following his gaze to the jacket in her arms, she held it out. “I... I swear I didn’t steal it! I woke up, and...”

“I know,” said Byakuya. He paused, then sighed. “I know... because I put it there.”

“You did?” She stared. “But why?”

Some seconds crawled by. Byakuya pushed up his glasses and turned his head away.

“... You looked cold,” he mumbled.

“Aww,” went Komaru sweetly, clasping her hands together and tilting her head to one side.

Meanwhile, Touko had gone stiff. For all of her fantasies, many including Byakuya offering his jacket to her, she hadn’t expected it to happen. Like, actually happen. She drew the jacket against her chest, wrapping her arms around it.

“Byakuya-sama’s precious jacket,” she murmured. He fixed his gaze on her.

“I will be wanting that jacket back,” he said sharply. “After you’ve washed it, obviously.”

“Or we could trade,” she suggested, ideas already flowing through her head. “What about I give you one of my jackets? Or my blouse? Or my panti-”

“That wouldn’t do,” Byakuya interrupted, almost blurting it. By now, his face had blushed a subtle pink, and he turned on his heel, then power-walked out. The others exchanged amused looks but didn’t go after him.

Touko, however, did.

“A skirt?” Touko piped up as they walked through the corridor, her tailing after him. 

“Come back, both of you!” Aoi called out, and Byakuya took a few more paces before stopping abruptly.

“My bra?” said Touko before forcing herself to a halt, one step away from bumping into him. She breathed in, but then his finger pressed over her lips, dissolving anything else she might have blurted out.

Instead of telling her to shut up, he went redder.

“... One of your socks will do,” he said.

Her mouth hung agape. 

He tapped on the underside of her jaw, closing her lips, and said, “Not a word.”

She nodded dumbly. The two returned to the party together, and if anyone else noticed how their fingers gently hooked together later on, no one said anything.


End file.
